Аннотация: Novikov-Priboy - Stepanov - "Port Arthur". Essay on the history of literature.
Novikov-Priboy - Stepanov - "Port Arthur". Essay on the history of literature.
Alexander Nikolaevich Stepanov was a professional artillery officer. For successes in battles with the enemy during the First World War, he was awarded six orders.
But what could the 'tsarist' officer, the son of the officer, Stepanov tell about the exploits of soldiers during the First World War - after October 1917?
What was allowed to talk about the exploits of the soldiers of the "tsarist army"?
Aleksey Silych Novikov-Priboi moved from the "past" to "socialist" Russia, relying on the support and authority of Maxim Gorky. The main theme of his creativity were the sea fights during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.
That was a not large window of opportunity.
A biographical transformation is taking place.
Alexander Nikolaevich Stepanov is not a hereditary tsarist (combat) officer. He is a peculiar predecessor of the (soviet) heroes-pioneers demanded by a Soviet propaganda.
He positioned himself as a boy who (in past) was fighting in Port Arthur against the Japanese army, as a boy who was helping his father-artilleryman.
The hypothetical Soviet censor froze for a second. He recalled Novikov-Priboy, Maxim Gorky, the "Sevastopol sketches" by Leo Tolstoy. Censor called by phone ('It's agreed with Novikov-Priboy and the Writers' Union!'). Exhaling, censor put a permit stamp.
Nikolayev and Chistyakov [Д.К.Николаев и О.В.Чистяков] ('Port Arthur. An Unexpected Results of Literary and Archival Search') [(''Порт-Артур'. Неожиданные результаты литературно-архивного поиска')] believe (based on archival research data) that neither Alexander Nikolaevich Stepanov, nor his father in Port Arthur have never been.
However, for a talented artillery officer it was not so difficult, based on his own experience, personal recollections of the participants in the events and a documentary evidence, to reconstruct the course of hostilities.
The father turned from a 'tsarist' officer to a figure like the counter- [Pavlik] Morozov senior (that is, in a father of a patriot-pioneer, father of a pioneer-hero) - which was also useful.
The Second World War was approaching. "Port Arthur" was published in 1940 in Krasnodar.
It's a bit a controversial topic, let's see how readers will react in the province ...
('Why are Bulgakov's plays [The Days of the Turbins'] so often staged on the stage? Because it must be that there are not enough of our own plays suitable for production'. From Stalin's letter 'The answer to Bill-Belotserkovski' of February 2, 1929).
When it became clear that September 1945 not far, the need for "Port Arthur" increased.
The circulation of the book reached approximately one million copies.
The country should have been mentally, morally prepared for the defeat of the Kwantung Army in the Far East ...
So the combat artillery officer had to write about the heroism of Russian soldiers - but describing not World War I (28 июля 1914 - 3 марта 1918 - 11 ноября 1918), and the siege of Port Arthur (1904-1905).
For a talented writer and professional artilleryman, for a participant of combat operations, such literary work was within the limits of possibilities.
In real life, him had to play the role of the prototype of a (soviet) pioneer-hero, but such were the cruel realities of a historical turning point.
The country needed the movement. Forward.
November 30, 2019 17:35
Translation from Russian into English: November 30, 2019 21:49.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Новиков-Прибой - Степанов - 'Порт-Артур'. Очерк истории литературы'.